Former US president Donald Trump is facing widespread criticism after a video posted from his Truth Social account briefly depicted Barack and Michelle Obama with AI‑generated monkey faces — imagery widely condemned by civil rights advocates and senior Democrats as racist.
The one‑minute clip, which also repeated long‑debunked claims about the 2020 election and Dominion Voting Systems, included the altered images for roughly a second near the end of the video. Multiple US outlets verified the footage after it circulated on Friday.
Donald Trump has posted a video on Truth Social that depicts Barack and Michelle Obama as monkeys. I have covered the despicably racist image.
— Narinder Kaur (@narindertweets) February 6, 2026
Racism deployed right on cue to pull attention away from Epstein involvement. pic.twitter.com/uk5Kjrd3Nl
A spokesperson for California Governor Gavin Newsom called the post “racist and unacceptable,” while former Obama adviser Ben Rhodes described the imagery as “dehumanising.” The video had attracted more than a thousand likes on Truth Social within hours of being posted.
The controversy comes at a moment when Trump has been actively pursuing defamation claims of his own. In recent weeks, he has filed lawsuits alleging that several media organisations and commentators damaged his reputation through coverage he argues was false or malicious.
Those filings have placed Trump in the unusual position of simultaneously asserting that his own public image has been unlawfully harmed, while critics argue that the Truth Social post targeting the Obamas crosses the very lines he claims others have violated.
Legal analysts note that US defamation law sets a high bar for public figures, requiring proof of “actual malice” — knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for the truth. Whether Trump’s recent lawsuits will meet that threshold remains to be seen, but the juxtaposition between his legal posture and the content shared on his official social platform has already become a point of political debate.
The video is the latest in a series of AI‑manipulated images and clips shared by political actors across the US. Researchers warn that synthetic media is increasingly being deployed to inflame racial tensions, distort public perception, and blur the line between satire, propaganda, and targeted misinformation.
Civil rights groups say the use of monkey imagery — a trope historically used to dehumanise Black people, is especially dangerous in a heated election environment.
JamRadio will continue monitoring developments, including any official responses from the Obama family, the White House, or legal representatives involved in Trump’s ongoing defamation actions.
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